Black Canyon Coffee @ Alamanda Putrajaya

There was a flash flood at the main entrance road to my housing garden after work yesterday, so we decided to have dinner elsewhere while waiting for the waters to subside before we could go home. We ended up at Alamanda because it was the nearest shopping mall and the journey there was traffic –free.

With nothing specific in mind, except for hot food, we decided to eat at Black Canyon Coffee which is located at the food court area. Black Canyon Coffee has many branches, usually located in Jusco shopping centers. Its menu are mainly Thai flavours, with some fusion theme, but it also has some western meals. The drinks menu is not too varied, though it has quite a selection of coffee beverages.

We ordered the following for two:

• Fusili Chicken Tom Yam (RM8.90)
• Pad Thai (RM10.90)
• Iced Chocolate (RM6.90)
• Iced Blended Green Tea (RM6.90)

iced blended green tea and iced choc	the napkin with the logo
Fusili chicken tomyam	Pad Thai

There’s a 15% govt & service charge on top of the price. If you happen to have a Jusco card, remember to present it when paying, and you’ll get to enjoy 10% discount of the bill.

The Pad Thai was quite tasty, though I thought it was abit “wet”. The iced chocolate was nothing to shout about, except it tasted like cooking chocolate with cream. N ordered the other two, and I tried a few mouthfuls. The Fusili is quite yummy with a hint of spiciness, the chicken was smooth and tender, the tom yam soup was just nice (not too spicy). The iced blended green tea was so-so only, it tasted just like normal green tea with abit of creamy taste.

Though the food experience was nothing to shout about, but there are quite a few of other food that I would like to try if I happen to revisit it. Not a bad choice for a quick lunch / dinner as they also have lunch/dinner sets.

Pan Mee @ Ikano Power Center

While picking up Kiko from the pet shop in Ikano Power Center (Location map), we had stopped by this place selling Pan Mee in Ikano for lunch.

I forgot to notice the name of the stall, however it is called 面粉居(Mian Fen Ju) in Chinese, basically means "house of noodles". The menu shows different varieties of Pan Mee, and limited drink choices.

I wanted something spicy so I ordered Curry Chicken Pan Mee, while N went for Sambal Dried Shrimps Pan Mee. The pan mee was supposedly "home-made", so it looks and tasted coarser.

Mine looked rather promising when the bowl was served. It was dried curry chicken rendang over the noodles, sprinkled with chopped spring onions. N's looked promising too, with the minced sambal dried shrimps and chopped spring onions, though the portion looked abit too small.

However, to my surprise (and dismay), my curry chicken was too hot for tastebuds! (even for a spicy food lover like me). So I was not enjoying the pan mee at all. I was basically picking the chicken bits, trying to separate the rendang gravy away from my noodles. In the end, I didn't finish it, it was too much spicyness for me. N however slurped up his noodles.

So if you happen to visit this stall, pls stay away from the curry chicken pan mee, try the non-spicy ones instead. :P

Sambal dried shrimps pan mee

Curry chicken pan mee

Waffle World @ Sunway Pyramid Old Wing

Last Friday I was “discharged” from having to cook dinner :) I think it was also god’s will that there was a blackout when we were just about to leave the house that night. (how to cook in the dark leh…) So we went to Sunway Pyramid.

We had a hard time finding a parking lot, and our stomachs were grumbling, the time was already 8:30pm. And being not familiar with all the eateries in Sunway Pyramid, we spent another 10-15 minutes choosing a place to fill our stomachs..it was then this shop caught my eye. The big waffle sign at Waffle World! Ok, not exactly an appropriate choice for dinner. But hey, they also serve some main courses, and we could have waffles for desserts, right? :P

I had to remind N not to dig in before I get the chance to take photos of the food. We ordered Footlong Experience (the 1-foot long sausage), Spaghetti Vongole (spicy with clams) and the Triple Nutz Waffle. The Footlong experience had a cute presentation resembling a smiley face, I had a small bite of the sausage, but it tasted normal. My spaghetti vongole was a letdown. I had expected a spicier dry chilli taste, but it came in more tomato-ish gravy. The clams were small and not very succulent. (what do you expect from a waffle shop rite?) But the Triple Nutz Waffle….waaa..that looked extremely yummy and you bet it tasted heavenly too! The waffle has chocolatey taste & smell of cocoa, the fillings was fully of nuts. And with the ice cream topping on it..yummy! You have to try it yourself.

Plus One Shabu Shabu @ Imbi

I haven't been blogging about food for a long time. I thought I should blog about this place - Plus One Shabu Shabu.

As the name implies, it's all about shabu shabu (steamboat) - Hong Kong style. Personally, I don't know what's so hongkie about it. The ingredients looks kinda same to me. Looks like the selling point about the food is the soup. Well, I guess that's something hongkie.

To start with, you get to order your own small pot of shabu shabu with the soup of your choice. Otherwise you can also order one big pot and share with your food buddies. There are many choices to choose from eg. Pepper Pork & Salty Veg soup, Chinese Herbal soup, Tom Yam, Miso, Shark's bone soup etc. Then you order the raw ingredients for your own "cooking".

There's also a counter which you could pick the sauces to go with your food e.g chillies, garlic, chives, thai sweet sour sauce...just to name a few.

I think the "personal pot" thingy is more hygienic plus you get to choose your own soup base. The place is air-conditioned with nice ambience. The price is mid range, parking is also convenient. You can just park at the parking lot beside the restaurant.

There currently have 2 outlets:
KL (beside Imbi Palace Restaurant)
No. 20-22, Jalan Barat Off Jln Imbi.

Another one at:
Petaling Jaya
Lot F 337-338, Rain Forest,
1st Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre (new Wing).

So if you feel like "shabu-shabu-ing", give it a try :)

Konnyaku Jellies for Mich's dinner gathering

Last Saturday, I was busy preparing some konnyaku jellies again for the little dinner gathering at Mich's place. This time around, I remembered to snap some pictures while I was at it.

I couldn't get the usual brand from the Giant supermarket I went to. So I resorted to this brand. It costs around RM2.19 per packet.



And I got this small bucket of Nata De Coco too (about RM5.49).



Then I prepared the jelly moulds (containers). I had asked lil sis's help to put in the nata de coco cubes into the moulds while I boiled the jelly mix.



Pretty easy, I just followed the instructions on the jelly packet. I had cooked 2 packets of jelly powder. I mixed the jelly powder with sugar (I had used 4 tbsp, but it wasn't sweet enough, I supposed 6 tbsp would be better). Then slowly poured the mixture into cool water (about 1.6 litre, supposed to be 2 litre, but it seems too diluted so I changed the portion). After that, I bring the mixture to boil, slowly stirring it while it simmers.

When it seems that all powder has diluted in the water and mixed well, I turned off the heat. Then using a ceramic soup spoon, I spooned the mixture into the moulds (with the nata de coco already put in). Stir the mixture whenever appropriate to make it easier to spoon it out. The mixture is abit glue-y.

Then leave them to cool. You can popped out the jellies from the mould after about 45 mins. Chilled them in the fridge before serving.



And oh, for those who missed the dinner gathering...we enjoyed ourselves with Mich's spaghetti and grilled chicken wings, red wine and pizzas. And we had good laugh watching her wedding video together. No pictures, sorry :P

Hainanese Cafe at Low Yat Plaza

I went to Low Yat last weekend, without the intention of buying any gadget. Ended up buying a wireless router, a headphone with mic, and a cd album. All these gonna cause a dent in my wallet this month. But I'm very excited and happy because I finally got wi-fi installed at home, yay! :D

So now I can surf and chat on my pda, any spot in the house. Haha..this is so cool! I kept shelving the idea of installing wi-fi at home, in the end the plan was realised through an impulse buy. tsk tsk... But I'm still problem with my work laptop connecting to wi-fi, probably some stupid security settings on it. Gotta try fixing it some day.

Before we got to the buying spree on that day, we had a quick bite at this Hainanese Cafe at the erm..it think it's the 1st or 2nd floor of Low Yat Plaza. We had almost walked past it, but the delicious roti bakar and aromatic hainanese coffee was too inviting. We sat ourselves down at high stools at the bar, which provided a good view of how the staff prepared the roti bakar and making the drinks.



We ordered a Special Hainanese Roti Bakar (RM2.50++) and Hainanese Ying Yong "Cham" drink (RM2.80++). The drink order came quickly, it's a mix of tea and coffee drink. The Roti Bakar came abit later, but it was worth the wait. The bread was soft, and a bit crispy at the sides, and slapped on with rich layer of melted butter and kaya. Yummy!



I also noticed they served other food here, they even have set lunches. I think this is a good place for a quick bite when you go shopping at Low Yat. I've also wrote about the Okonomiyaki stall at Low Yat if you crave for some Japanese fare.

Pan Mee @ Taman Miharja

Food: Pan Mee
Location: Taman Miharja (the housing garden opposite Jusco Maluri)
Price: RM4.80 (small)
Side Order: Pork balls (RM2 for 12 balls)
Type of Eatery: Road side stall

I've been itching to try out the Pan Mee at Miharja for the past few weeks, ever since my sis told me about how tasty it is. And I was working from home on last Friday. So I took the opportunity to cari makan on that Friday's lunch.

I picked up my lil sis from school, sent her friend home, then got stucked in the jam for 20 mins before getting to the Pan Mee stall. I obviously do not know what's so special about this stall's pan mee, but I was determined to try it out. With my sis as the navigator, getting there was a breeze. If you know where PGRM or Jusco Maluri is, then locating this stall is pretty easy. See the self drawn map below. Coming from main road in front of Jusco, turn left when you see Caltex station. Then turn into the 2nd street on your left. You can start to find parking. The stall is in front of the flats, just beside the curb corner, under some big trees. You'll see the auntie and uncle manning the few big pots of soup. And you'll know it's the pan mee stall.

We ordered the pan mee (soup) each and add on a bowl of pork balls (zhu yok yun). Aaa..the pork balls are yummy. The pan mee soup is normal stuff with the vege and minced pork etc. But the differerence is, they add on the parsley (the garnishing leafy vege you normally get in the restaurant dishes). The parsley add a different kind of flavour to the soup. Personally, I think the pan mee is nothing special. The Pandan Indah pan mee would be better than this. Oh, the chillies...it was supert hot! See the pics I took of the food.

Give it a try and tell me if this stall's pan mee taste better. You can also see this blogger's review and more pics of this pan mee stall.

Little Taiwan @ MidValley

Shop name : Little Taiwan
Location : Midvalley, 3rd Floor (Rating : 3/5)
Food type : Taiwanese noodles, rice, desserts, snacks, fancy drinks e.g. Bubble Tea

This is a cute little shop on the 3rd floor of MidValley (near the cinema, same row as McDonald's). I've passed by this shop numerous time but never felt like stopping by to try. I finally tried it two weekends ago, but I was too busy eating and forgot to take any pictures. This time around, I make sure I took pictures when the food is served.

We ordered not too fancy drinks, just simple and plain Jasmine Green Tea and Bubble Red Tea. I didn't notice too much bubble though, but the Jasmine Green Tea smelled fragrant and good as a thirst quencher.

I wanted to have something spicy, so I ordered Spicy Ramen. You could the layer of chilli oil floating on top, with lots of "gau choy" (long strips of vege that looks like sprind onions), some beansprouts, corn, and 2 big chicken meat balls. I didn't enjoy it too much, I guess you have to slurp down the soup to enjoy the taste. But it was too oily for my liking.

Another dish we ordered was the fried glassnoodle ("Tung Fun"). The chinese name in the menu was quite cute, literal translation of it would be "Ants climbing up the tree". Of course I could see no ants, and I still can't figure which part of the dish resembles the ants. Anyway, it was a simple dish, although I didn't taste it, I thought it looked good.

We also ordered a side dish, fried dumplings ("wo tip"). This is one of my favourite side dishes. The meat was succulent enough, and the vinegar dip goes well with it.

This shop offers quite a variety of noodles and rice dishes served in Taiwanese style. The side dishes is a must try. We tried the Tempura (chinese name is "tian bu la", which means sweet but not spicy), is a nice try. The fried pieces goes well with the chilli dip, and the taste is addictive! Here're the pictures of what we had, and I'll definitely return to try out more of their side dishes :P

Little Taiwan shop	Jasmine Green Tea & Red Tea
Spicy Ramen Noodles (*chinese name "Ma La Ramen")	Fried Glassnoodles (*chinese name translation was "Ants crawling up the tree")
Fried dumplings with ginger strips & vinegar dip

Makan-makan: Folded pancakes @ Taman Segar Pasar Malam

Location : Pasar malam at Taman Segar (opposite of Leisure Mall), every Friday night

Rating : 5/5

Food type : Snack

We happened to catch the "Ho Chiak" episode on one of the weekends, and notice that the place was so familiar. Sure enough, it was in Taman Segar, one of our usual hangout places. So we decided to check it out. There's this one stall operated by a Chinese-Thai guy, with his assistant. They sell these folded crispy pancakes with various stuffings to choose from eg. chicken floss, banana, chocolate, raisins, mayonnaise, chilli sauce etc. They also sell some smaller softer pancakes, which is stuffed with kaya, bean paste and sweet corn. We had a go at the crispy version, and it was worth the waiting. Mind you, there's a queue if you want to taste this.

It's quite easy to locate this stall. It's a mini-van stall, located on the left side of the street if you are coming from Leisure Mall. And you can also see they've hung up printed paper of their stall being featured on "Ho Chiak". It was situated in front of a bakery shop when we visited it. It's thumbs up, I tried the banana-raisins-chocolate version, and i must say the taste blended quite well.

Makan-makan: Okonomiyaki @ LowYat Plaza

Location : Okonomiyaki at Low Yat Plaza (next to Mr Teppanyaki)
Rating : 4/5
Food type : Japanese - Okonomiyaki

There's this one stall that sells Okonomiyaki (looks like Japanese style pizza) at the lower ground floor or Low Yat Plaza (the food court level). This stall is just next to Mr Teppanyaki restaurant.

It has a very Japanese-like setup, even the workers are wearing the Japanese clothing. And they even have some Japanese magazine for your browsing pleasure.

The special thing about this place is that they cook on the hot plate. They pour a flour mixture, then put lots of vege, meat slices, shrimps, squids, tuna fish, onions, then wrapped up with egg (just like your nasi pattaya style). Then you can have the sweet sauce or mayonnaise topping. The sweet sauce is a must, as it a specially from Japan, and it blends well with the okonomiyaki. You can even buy it from the stall. If you prefer spicy, you can also add few dashes of chilli powder.

This is the second time I frequented this stall. Give it a try when you drop by Low Yat. Something different and yummy to try out. Thumbs up for this!

If you want to know more about Okonomiyaki, check out at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

Curry chee cheong fun from the next door stall	one of the okonamiyakis we ordered
The okonamiyaki stall we visited	the chefs cooking on the hot plate

Noodle soup in Floating Market, Bangkok

And here's another dish I had at Floating Market, Bangkok...noodle soup. This dish is quite common there, and it comes with small slices of meat, vege, fried taufu skin, and few dashes of pepper. The locals like to add dashes of hot chilli powder to it and some fish sauce.

I thought that this was a bit costly. They charges 35 baht for this small meal. Probably could get it cheaper elsewhere in Bangkok city.

Popiahs from Floating Market, Bangkok

I love popiahs, especially hot steaming ones, with crispy skins wrapping vege strips and meat in it, and dipping it into chilli sauce...yumyum~

Here's a shot of the popiahs I had at the Floating Market in Bangkok. It costs 20 baht a plate. Note that it is garnished with mint leaves which can be eaten.

Makan-makan: Potato Salad

I just got this simple salad recipe from Tham Jiak's blog. The ingredients are easy to get and it's simple to prepare. (*but i've yet to try, one of these days...i'm gonna...ok, i promise I'll post the pic here when I try it :P)

Ingredients:
3-4 Boiled Potatoes
1 bunch of Spring Onions
1 Cucumber
2 Hardboiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Salt & Pepper

Method:
1) Cut potatoes, cucumber and eggs into 1cm x 1cm cubes.
2) Chop the spring onions finely.
3) Put 1 and 2 into a mixing bowl and stir in mayonnaise.
4) Add few dashes of salt and pepper to taste.

Ta-da... now you have your potato salad. I think it will taste better if served cold. So probably can put in the fridge before serving.

Makan-makan: Laksa Shack @ MidValley

What to eat: All kinds of laksa noodles, roti jala, nasi beriani, nasi kerabu, roti canai
Where: Laksa Shack @ Mid Valley Megamall (LG Floor, opposite The Chicken Rice Shop)
Food rating: 3/5 (Johor Laksa)

The Laksa Shack recently opened another branch at Mid Valley. It already had branches in 1-Utama and KLCC. It was quite awhile ago the last time I had laksa at KLCC.

This new shop interior design and ambience is just so-so, but it looks clean and bright. Although I think the table arrangement is abit haphazard, it gave me a cramp feeling.

We sampled their Laksa Sarawak and Laksa Johor this time. The Laksa Sarawak is spicy and looks a bit dark due to the spices and the pepper used. I had the Laksa Johor, it is made of fish gravy (similar to Assam Laksa Penang), but is not sourish, instead it's more curry-ish taste. Just be careful not to swallow the tiny fish bones if you are gonna have this. One tiny one got into my throat, and almost made me choke! Gosh...

One drink to note though...try the iced white coffee with cincau. Never heard of it leh...me too...kakaka... though it sounded weird, but it's quite nice acutually. Since the cincau taste plain, it goes well with the coffee. And I think the white coffee provides a little creamy texture to the drink.

Wanted to sample the roti jala, but we're so stuffed up that we gave up. :P

Makan-makan: Spicy taucu spaghetti @ home

Craving for something spicy? Look no further...


Spicy taucu spaghetti

Ingredients:
- spaghetti (for 4 persons)
- a can button mushrooms (halved)
- 1 tomato (diced)
- mixed peas
- baby corns (usually come in a packet)
- 2 pieces of tauhu (diced)
- spicy taucu paste
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped)


Just got this Taiwan spicy taucu paste the other day from Giant. And then suddenly got this stupid craving for spicy food and spaghetti... so I decided to be a little adventurous and try some new recipe.

I ransacked the kitchen shelves and refridgerator for the ingredients...anything that taste plain and look colourful, like the mixed peas....hahaha... ok, first, I boiled the spaghetti the usual way and drained it for later use.

Then heat some oil in the wok, and stir fry the chopped garlics. Then add in the ingredients in no particular order, and put in 4-5 tablespoons of the spicy taucu paste. Don't put too much though, it can be quite spicy (trust me!). Stir fry the ingredients for about 7-8 minutes or until they are cooked. Don't need to add water, it will dilute the taste. Add a little salt if necessary.

Then scoop up the ingredients into your plate of spaghetti and ready to serve.

Dig in! Yum yum~

Oh...if you prefer non spicy version, I guess you can use the normal non spicy taucu paste instead. (But I haven't tried this, so you gotta let me know how it taste :P)

Makan-makan: Milo & Milk Bread Spread @ home

Ever wonder how much Malaysians L-O-V-E Milo?

We have Milo drink for breakfast, Milo-ais at mamak stalls, Milo-ping at kopitiam, neslo if you like a tinge of coffee to go with it, and of course, children's all time favourite - just eat it right out of the milo tin! hahaha...what do you mean you don't know the last one? Just take a scoop of out milo and put it in your mouth.

Milo is like one of the staple food in Malaysians' lives. And to show you one of the ways I enjoy my fav Milo, I like to spread it on my bread, and put a little condensed milk on it.... the taste is "heavenly"...hahaha...

Oh, there's another version...but this goes better if you have the bread toasted first. Then spread butter and sprinkle Milo on the toast. I read this version in the newspaper and tried it. It might sound weird, but once you tried it, it is quite tasty too!

For all Milo-lovers out there, share with me the ways you enjoy your Milo... ;-)

Makan-makan: Prawns Hor Fun @ Semenyih

Love this plate of kuayteow (hor-fun in Cantonese)! Tried this at an old shop in Semenyih town. The gravy was tasty with the sweetness of the prawns, and the gravy was enough for every mouthful of hor-fun. It's definitely worth the extra $$ for this plate.

The picture is showing the portion for 2 persons. And it's priced at RM12/portion.

Ooh...writing this post makes me hungry...and the hor-fun definitely looks like a good chow! :P~

Makan-makan: Kaizen Restaurant @ Kiarong, Brunei

A new colleague recommended this Japanese restaurant, Kaizen Japanese Restaurant in Kiarong area in Bandar Sri Begawan. Japanese restaurants are rare in this country, not to mention good ones. Since this is our last night staying here for this trip, we decided to treat our something good.

The food was definitely up to our expectation, but I thought that the sushi selection was too few to choose from. The sushi plates were arranged on a little toy train, which chugged around the food counter on a railway track. What an ingenious idea! And I was so excited seeing the train going round and round, with all the sushi on the carriages behind it. Took a snapshot of it to share with all of you ;-)

Makan-makan: Noodle Kings @ Pandan Indah

What to eat: Curry mee, Asam Laksa, Prawn Mee & Chicken Kuay-Teow soup (Gai si hor fun)
Where: Noodle King (same row as the Hakka Mee @ Pandan Indah, opposite Steven's Corner, near the hospital)
Food rating: 2/5 (curry mee)






Last Saturday N and I went to try this restaurant at Pandan Indah. I think the shop's name is Noodle King (literal translation from Chinese "mian wang"). Looks like a new shop. And it sells only 4 types of noodle, which they named them "Si Da Mian Wang" (four kings of noodles).

The interior of the shop was quite clean and new, with a kopitiam feel since the tables and chairs they used looked like those old china furnitures. They also have other small dishes like dumplings. A bowl of noodle cost around RM4 - 5. Personally I think the price is a bit expensive for the small portion of food that they served. But I guess you pay for the ambience you enjoyed having meal at this shop.

Makan-makan: Kopi Pork Ribs @ Pandan Perdana

What to try: Kopi Pai Guat
Where: Seafood restaurant at Pandan Perdana
Food rating: 2.5/5

Had this kopi "pai-guat" (pork ribs) for yesterday dinner. It tasted abit of coffee flavour and a little sweet. If you want to try this, head to this corner seafood restaurant opposite Restoran Talipon at Pandan Perdana. You can see this restaurant as you come along Middle Ring Road II (MRR2). It's near the Econsave building.